A Week of Training

The last week or so has seen me unable to get outside to climb, work and family occasionally have to come first! So, I shoehorned in a few indoor sessions.....and was pleasantly surprised!

Last week, I had to work away for a couple of days, Northampton to be precise. So whilst down there, I decided to try out the local wall for a spot of bouldering. The Pinnacle Centre www.thepinnaclecentre.co.uk is a nice place, friendly staff and good facilities. the climbing is good in terms of quality but perhaps a little lacking in volume and height. It is not the biggest wall in the country. That said, I had a good couple of hours session in 'the cave' and found myself climbing up to v5 (although v5 here felt like v4 at www.rockoverclimbing.co.uk ). With bouldering varying from crimpy, balancy slabs to monster pull fests through 60deg roofs, it was a good all round workout. I'm really focusing on footwork and technique in theses sessions. Sure my arms are getting a workout too but I know my footwork, particularly when under pressure, is where I need most work.

My second session was at Rockover. New routes set, it was well worth the visit. My routine consisted of a 5a, 6a, 6b+ traverse warm up with 30 second rest inbetween. The traverse wall is probably around 40 ft length. I then did problems up to v4 and managed to flash every one.......a first!

My final session was a roped session at www.manchesterclimbingcentre.com . Again starting with a traverse warm up at 6a I then managed to climb up to 6b with a couple of 6a's and 6a+s in there. I took a fall on the 6b and it was purely down to my inability to work out moves indoors sometimes. Outdoors, I see a crack, I instantly know to jam or layback it and probably will know which too. Indoors, I see holds bolted to a wall, I see a face climb. I'm learning this isn't always the case. The route in question was a layback exercise.......and as it turned out, a really nice technique workout, making you turn and layback facing both in and out. A gentle boulder session was used to warm down although as a warm down, after busting blood vessels on a v4 mantle fest, it probably wasn't the wisest move!

As a post script to the above, the next day, my calves ached! This is quite significant for me, it means I'm using my feet!